Rebecca MacKinnon's postings about work, reading, and ideas from 2004-2011.

February 28, 2005

Arrests in Bahrain

Seems like we have a theme for the week... Islamic governments going
after bloggers who believe their religion should be compatible with democracy and free speech.

Watch Chan'ad Bahraini for updates on first one, now THREE people jailed in Bahrain. Babbling Bahrania is also on the case with the latest about the plight of blogger Ali Abdulemam, plus Mohammed Almosawi and Hussain Yousif, all three of them moderators of Bahrainonline. According to Babbling Bahrania, "This is an arabic site which you can
access to get a flavour of the kind of debates. It has tended to be
highly critical of the government, although the moderators have always
maintained a certain standard of debate which is not abusive or
slanderous."

Bahrania asks: "if you knew u were going into custody, what would you pack in your suitcase?"

UPDATE: Bahrania's latest post shows the frustration of people who are sick and tired of the Bahraini Big Brother:

Our boys, Ali, Mohammed and Hussain will be forced to face a difficult
choice: close BahrainOnline.org, wipe out the database or face SEVERE
consequences. Will they stand by their principles and rights to free
speech and forsake their future? This is the choice they are facing
right now in that interrogation room.

Ali
was the visionary of this project, Mohammed was the brains, Hussain was
the voice. They're identities were never secret. Which one will break
under pressure? I'm sure they now realise this is no joke and the
government is DEAD serious on closing this site down. How long can it
go on clamping down on its people - banning foreign participants to
conferences, arresting people collecting signatures for a petition,
threatening the closure of political societies, arresting a human
rights activist, living on royal whims, blocking websites and now this.

Will Bahraini Big Brother do the right thing? Bahrania hopes international attention will make that more likely: "What else can we do? How do we know this isnt just some blogger frenzy and that the authorities are hearing this??"

Comments

It's surprising that this is happening in Bahrain, the generally and relatively least restrictive Gulf State, aside from Dubai.

It again highlights how changing the area's perspectives on secularim is a generational process, and one that doesn't neatly fit into US presidential terms or western media's demand for binary answers.